Katokko: A Family Story
by Hyperactive Lioness
Summary: Sokka, Katara and Zuko find out a secret about their families. Will it tear them apart or make them stronger? After Sozin's Comet.
1. Where is my mother?

**This is sort-of my first attempt at a story that ISN'T a one-shot and not all about humor. So bear with me. **

**WARNING- Spoilers for the Avatar Finale-**

**DISCLAIMER- I don't own Avatar! If I did, there'd be WAY more books then just 3. **

**O..o..O..o..O..o..O**

"Where is my mother?"

The question, heavy with emotion, was directed at the former Phoenix King, Ozai, by his son, the newly crowned Fire Lord, Zuko. Ozai narrowed his eyes. He was determined to keep this a secret.

"Tell me now," Zuko commanded, his voice deadly. Slowly, Ozai's eyes rose to meet his son's. Zuko's eyes were smoldering with anger and Ozai knew that if he didn't let go of his secret that this would be his final hour.

"I'm not sure," he said evenly. "In the Earth Kingdom maybe, the Southern Water Tribe..."

"Why would she go there?"

"To visit her sister's grave," Ozai muttered, devoid of any emotion.

"My mother had a sister? My mother was part Water Tribe? _I _am part Water Tribe?" the questions were pouring out of Zuko and he didn't try to stem the flow.

"Yes, Ursa had a sister," Ozai said. "And you _are _part Water Tribe." The former Fire Lord spat on the ground in disgust.

"So she's dead now," Zuko said sadly. "My aunt."

"Yes," Ozai said haughtily. "That fool, Kya." The name hit Zuko full on, like one of Toph's boulders or an air blast from Aang.

"Kya?" he finally managed to say.

Ozai's eyes slowly closed, and he slumped against the cold stone wall, obviously still exhausted from his battle with Aang and the ordeal of losing his firebending. Zuko staggered out of the prison and leaned against a wall.

"Zuko!" Sokka's loud voice echoed throughout the hallway. "We've been looking everywhere for you! We thought..." the Water Tribe warrior stopped short when he cought sight of Zuko.

"What's wrong with you?" he questioned, running up to him. "Should I get Katara?"

"One," Zuko said, standing upright. "Stop acting like a mother lizard-hen. Two, get Katara, but not for the reason you think. And three... Three can wait." Sokka, seeing the urgency in the Fire Lord's golden eyes, rushed off to find his sister. He found the waterbender in one of the palace's gardens, holding glowing water over Toph's feet.

"...told you a million times, Sweetness, I'm _fine!_" the blind earthbender was complaining. "There are a lot of other people who would appriciate your healing water... Like... _Aang_!" she finished in a lovey-dovey voice.

"To-oph!" Katara said, annoyed.

"Katara and Aang..." Toph said and then stopped short. "No, it _should_ be... Sugar Queen and Twinkletoes, sitting in a tree... K-I-S-S-I-N-..."

"TOPH!" Katara bellowed.

"Sorry to interrupt this... exiting conversation," Sokka butted in. "But Katara, you need to come with me."

"Good," Toph said, rolling her sightless eyes. "You can have her."

Katara thought about retorting, but all thoughts of a verbal battle with the earthbender were silenced by the urgency in her brother's eyes.

"Zuko wants you to come with me," Sokka said quickly. "I think it's important."

"Stay here," the waterbender commanded Toph, and allowed herself to be dragged away by Sokka.

**O..o..O..o..O..o..O**

**I hope you liked it! The next chapters'll be way longer though, and the good stuff starts. **

**Coming up next: Katara and Sokka go find Zuko and they take a stroll down to the dungeons**

**Firebender01**

**and as always,**

**Zuko- READ!**

**Toph- AND!**

**Sokka- REVIEW!**

**Katara- OR NO SPAGHETTI FOR YOU!**


	2. 2: On The Steps Of The Dungeon

**Thanks for all the positive input on the first chapter!**

**DISCLAIMER: Avatar's not mine, sadly.**

**O..o..O..o..O**

"There you are!" Zuko half-smiled with relief when he saw the two siblings racing towards him. But he had no time to say anything else.

"Are you alright?" Katara's hands were out, armed with healing water. "It's your lightning wound, isn't it?"

"No, nothing's wrong," Zuko smiled inwardly at the concern he saw in Katara and Sokka's eyes. He had truly become part of their family... In more ways then one.

"What did you want from me then?" Katara stood up, pouring the water back into the bottle that hung from her side.

"I have something to tell you and Sokka," Zuko stood up. "I went down to the dungeons today, to talk to Ozai." Zuko no longer referred to the former Fire Lord as his father anymore, preferring to think of Iroh as his true parent.

"If this has something to do with him, don't you think we should tell Aang?" Katara questioned. "I don't think we should be keeping things from the Avatar."

"Aang will be told," Zuko said. "But I thought you two should be first, being as it directly involves you."

"Well?" Sokka said, motioning for Zuko to continue.

"Your mother's name was Kya, wasn't it?" Zuko asked, just for affirmation. All the affirmation he got was Sokka bowing his head slightly and Katara's blue eyes getting misty, but that was all he needed. "I went to talk to Ozai..."

"You said that already," Sokka said, a little impatiently. He wanted to know what had gotten Zuko all exited.

"Shh," Katara shushed him as only a sister could. She knew Zuko was trying to tell them something important.

"Ozai... Mentioned Kya," Zuko continued, unfazed by Sokka's comment. "Saying she was... My mother's sister."

Katara's hand flew to her mouth and Sokka's eyes widened.

"Are you sure this is true?" Katara said, still reeling. "My mother... I thought she... I never knew she had a sister..."

"Me too..." Zuko said, the full realization of what this meant sinking in. "I thought my mother was pure Fire Nation!"

"That means you're my... Our... Cousin!" Sokka said excitedly. "I'm related to the Fire Lord!"

"And I'm related to two Water pesants," Zuko said sourly until he saw the shocked expressions on the sibling's faces, then he laughed. "What I _meant _was, I'm related to a Master waterbender and, well, Sokka."

"Hey!"

"That's a good thing," Katara re-assured her brother while grinning at Zuko.

"Wait," Sokka suddenly said. "What if Ozai was lying?"

"And how were they sisters from two different nations?" Katara asked, confused now that they were questioning it.

"And where is my mother now?" Zuko said.

"Looks like we're going back to the dungeons," Sokka said. "The Phoenix King of getting his butt whooped has some more questions to answer."

**O..o..O..o..O**

The small party of Zuko, Sokka, Katara and Toph, the walking lie detector, made their slow and careful journey down the dungeon steps.

"Doesn't anybody ever clean down here?" Sokka said, after he slipped yet again.

"I can barely see through all the slime on these steps!" Toph commented, and after a few minutes continued. "You three are really cousins?"

"It all depends on what the Loser Lord says," Sokka answered. "And if he's lying or not."

"Ha!" Toph laughed. "I just thought of something. If Ozai _isn't _lying, you two are related to Zuko, which probably has it's perks." Sokka looked expectantly at Zuko, who pretended to ignore him, concentrating instead on staring intently at the fire in his hand.

"But," Toph continued. "That _also _means Azula the mentally distraught is your _cousin _and Ozai the Evil is your _uncle_." Katara's eyes widened and Sokka pulled a face.

"But," Toph went on. "You're _also _related to Iroh, who's pretty amazing himself, _and _he makes great tea. So, two for two."

"And the bad two are locked up," Sokka said confidently and then turned frantically to Zuko. "I never _did _hear what happened to her! Please say you didn't have a sudden, unexpected, uncharacteristic burst of compassion and let her _go _to wreak her evil blue-fire havoc on the world, did you? You _did_?" NO!"

"Sokka," Zuko said, laying a hand on the hyperventilating warrior's shoulder. "Azula's locked up even tighter then the 'Loser Lord', if you will."

"Oh I _will_!" Sokka said, changing from frantic to exited in an instant, as only Sokka can.

"Is he _always _like this?" Zuko jokingly asked Katara, only to turn and find tears streaming down her face. "Katara! What's wrong?"

The waterbender took a second to compose herself, bending her shed tears off her cheeks and onto the dungeon floor and rubbing her eyes.

"This all came up so fast," she said finally. "And it's all catching up with me now! Zuko's on _our _side and he's the Fire Lord! I look at him and see a friend, not the bent-on-capturing-Aang jerk we met in the South Pole. And we won the war! The war that we were all born into, we won! How mind-blowing is that? And to top it all off, I'm now related to the people, not counting Zuko and Iroh, who made so many people miserable and who took the lives of so many more. The people who were trying to kill us all, to kill Aang." A single tear slipped down her cheek, and she didn't bend it away.

"Now she's gonna say something about _hope_," Sokka laughed, reminding them of the play they watched about themselves on Ember Island.

"I know what you mean," Zuko said, laying a comforting hand on Katara's shoulder, ignoring Sokka's laughter and Toph's comment of "Good one, Sokka!" "A year ago my sole purpose in life was to capture the Avatar and regain my father's love and my honor. If anyone told me I would eventually join _up _with him and teach him firebending to overthrow my father, I would've either laughed or called him insane. But now I can't imagine it any other way."

"Yeah," Sokka said, looking more solemn. "A year ago I thought I needed to stay with my village to protect it. When a crazy flying kid and his ten-ton bison showed up, I learned that I needed to _leave _my village to protect it. Then, when I caught my first glimpse of Zuko, I thought I had witnessed pure evil and I had found my mortal enemy. When he joined our group, I was prepared to shun him and treat him as badly as he treated us. But then... He started _helping _us! He never acted like a jerk or hurt us in any way. He taught Aang firebending, he helped release me and Katara's dad, and he helped Katara find the man who killed our mother. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but he helped me not to hate the Fire Nation anymore."

In the dim torchlight, Zuko grinned at Sokka.

_"I'm so glad they're my friends now," _the firebender thought, gazing at the three walking beside him. _"I honestly don't know how I stayed alive wen I was their enemy."_

**O..o..O..o..O**

**Thanks for reading! The next chapter will be up soon, I promise!**

**-Firebender01**


	3. 3: Confronting Ozai

**Thanks a bunch to all who reviewed... And here we go!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Avatar! That's Mike and Bryan. And I don't recall my name being either Mike OR Bryan. So...**

**O..o..O..o..O**

"Fire Lord Zuko!" the guard stood at attention and elbowed his partner, who was dozing off. "What brings you down here again?"

"I need to see Ozai," Zuko said. "We have some unfinished business to take care of."

"As you wish," the guard bowed in the Fire Nation style, left hand in a fist and right hand flat against it. "Follow me." He led them down a narrow, damp passageway and down a flight of stairs, then he bowed again and left them alone at the bars of a cell.

The former Fire Lord was curled up into a ball in one corner of the cell, presumably sleeping.

"Hey Loser Lord!" Toph said loudly and earthbent Ozai into a sitting position. "Wake up!"

"Who are you people?" Ozai squinted into the darkness. "Am I still in the palace? Where have you taken me? I am the Fire Lord! Answer my questions _now_!"

Zuko felt a small twinge of pity for the confused man that once was his father. Ozai apparently still thought he was the Fire Lord. Maybe he had just awoken from a dream, or thought his battle with Aang was one. Zuko squashed the pity inside him and reminded himself why he was here.

"Remember me?" Zuko bent some fire into his palm and held it up to his face. "Fire Lord Zuko?" Ozai, who had struggled to his feet, heard those three words, spoken by his son, and was sent reeling. He staggered backwards and slammed into the rock wall of the prison. He slid to the ground and hunched there, silent.

Images were racing through his brain, his coronation as Phoenix King, the magnificent airship fleet, his destruction of the Earth Kingdom, his battle with the Avatar. the exhilaration he felt in racing after the little bald kid who had dared defy him, shooting blasts of fire. The fear coursing through him as he first glimpsed the glowing eyes of the Avatar. The gripping pain he felt when his firebending was ripped away. And finally, the growing, gnawing hunger he felt to break out of prison, wring the Avatar's scrawny neck until he begged for mercy, re-acquire his firebending and assume his rightful place on the Fire Nation throne.

"We have some questions for you," Ozai's eyes slowly opened and he glared at the blue-eyed girl who had adressed him. She glared back defiantly.

"And you _better _tell the truth," Toph growled, eyebrows furrowed over sightless eyes. "I can tell if you are or not, so the _wise_ choice would be not to lie to the little blind girl."

"First question," Sokka said forcefully. "Who was Zuko's aunt?"

"I already told Zuko... that worthless worm of a son..." Ozai trailed off.

"No name calling," Toph said as she used earthbending to rough Ozai up a bit. "Is that how you treat your Fire Lord?"

Ozai spat on the ground, and Zuko's hands burst into flames. The former Fire Lord recoiled into a corner.

"The name of Zuko's aunt?" Sokka prompted.

"Kya," Ozai said, lifting his head and trying to retain some dignity.

"No lies?" Zuko asked Toph.

"No lies," Toph said confidently. "Congrats, new cousins. Next question."

Katara grinned at Sokka and Zuko. "Tell us about Ursa and Kya."

"Ready your little selves for a long and boring tale," Ozai began quickly, for he didn't want any of Zuko's fire that close to him again. "Their mother was Water Tribe, but she married a Fire Nation man secretly. After Ursa was born, he died and she re-married a man from the Water Tribes and Kya was born. Ursa went to live with her mother's first husband's family and grew up not knowing about her sister or her mixed heritage. When she was twenty-one, she married me and also learned of her sister. She told me the whole tale and went secretly to visit her. Two years after Azula was born I sent the Southern Raiders to the Southern Water Tribe to annihilate the remaining waterbender, and apparently, they killed Kya."

"And where is my mother now?" Zuko asked. The emotionless version of his aunt's demise had left him feeling unnerved and slightly nauseous.

"I told you already, I don't know," Ozai said. "And frankly, I don't care."

"How can you not care?" Zuko yelled into the cell. He had had enough. "I can't believe you! You lead a terrible life! You have no kindness or mercy in you at _all._Your main accomplishment was killing thousands of innocent people and destroying half the Earth Kingdom. If it wasn't for the respect I have for Aang and the decision he made, I'd kill you right now!"

"Kindness and mercy!" Ozai laughed without any humor. "You, Ursa, Iroh. All the weak links in the family chain. At some point I think you aren't Fire Nation at all!"

"You're wrong," Zuko said passionately. "I'm _all _Fire Nation, except for the small part of Water Tribe for which I am proud. _You _on the other hand have no idea of what it really means to be Fire Nation. It's not to be heartless and cruel. If you could see the citizens right now, they're dancing in the streets and weeping for joy that the war is over. They didn't love the war. They didn't think that the war was the Fire Nation's way of giving back to the world. _That _was the lie you drilled into everyone's head to make them think you were right. Well, you were _wrong _and now everyone knows it! You and Azula... You aren't Fire Nation! You're both hatred and evil in human form. Fire Nation people aren't really evil, and it's about time we shared _that _with the world."

Ozai slowly started to clap "Wonderful speech, _Fire Lord _Zuko. But I think I've told you all you needed to know, so you can go on your merry, peace-bringing way now. I'll just sit in my lowly prison cell, wondering how I can be as good as _you_."

"You do that," Katara said, laying a hand on Zuko's shoulder. "It might be healthy for you."

"No lies?" Sokka slowly asked Toph.

"No lies," Toph said. "Except for that last part about trying to be like Zuko, anyway."

**O..o..O..o..O**

**I hope you liked this chapter! One more thing...**

**Katara- READ!**

**Zuko- AND!**

**Sokka- REVIEW!**

**Toph- OR NO COOKIES FOR YOU!**

**-Firebender01**


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